AGNPH Stories
 

Aaron's Journey by akiru

 

Story Notes:

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter 2: Surviving and Learning

Several hours later, it was around midnight, Aaron woke up. He panted for air, his body hurt and he lost much blood. "Was everything a dream?" Aaron thought, and opened his eyes. Darkness surrounded him and he couldn't see the moon, because shadows of century old trees consumed any light.

The forest was quiet, the vegetation sprouted thick out of the ground. Several bushes with huge leaves waved in the coldness of the fog, the grass on the ground grew over small moss-green stones. Aaron was lucky that he landed so soft and missed the stones, or he might have had broken bones. He moved his right arm up to his eyes, he concentrated sharply on the distant silhouette of his hand.

He noticed that his eyes were sharper than before, because he managed to see more and more surface of it. Aaron needed to confirm if the things that happened to him were only a weird dream, but he was horrified as he looked up to a clawed paw. Aaron screamed and tried to stand up, but his new feet denied that attempt instantly, he lost his balance and fell on the ground again. "So it was true what that Team-Rocket chief said to me, he really transformed me with the machine they built...," Aaron remembered.

Team Rocket failed to change him into a loyal minion, he still had his personalty. He examined his arms, then moved his paws over the body, feeling the fur tickling them, it was a weird feeling. Suddenly he coughed, blood dropped out of his mouth, splattering on the plants. "I need help, fast, or I might not survive in this state," Aaron thought while he finally stood up and managed to hold his balance, "I should search for some Oran berries, they always helped my Pokémon!"

He was in pain, and was lucky that he could still move with several flesh wounds on his body. Aaron started to move step by step through the thick vegetation. Drops of water, resting on the top of juicy leaves, dripped on the ground with calm "blip" noises. Aaron's ears were very sensitive and caught every single sound, from moving trees to wind blowing through the grass.

Thanks to his sharp eyes, he could see a clearance in the distance. He shuttered because it was cold and due to his blood loss, fog raised from the ground absorbing the last sounds. Aaron noticed a herbal essence in the air, "I must be near to a berry tree, it smells like, Oran berries, my nose is better as well! The smell seems to come from the clearance in front of me."

He moved faster than before, his body was loosing warmth, so he had to hurry to the Oran tree, in hope that the fruits will heal him. Aaron walked out of the trees, onto a small field, overgrown with grass and yellow flowers. In the middle of the green stood a lone gorgeous tree, filled with blue berries. "This has to be the berry tree, the pain is getting worse, I can't hold out for much longer," Aaron thought, as he drew closer to it.

His blood dropped on the yellow flowers, painting them dark red. Suddenly a dark shadow came out of nowhere and threw Aaron on the ground. He fell hard on his back and his wounds started to bleed stronger, he was too surprised to react. Aaron looked in the eyes of a wild Primeape, he was paralysed by the pure anger and hate in it's face.

The Primeape mustered the Lucario, blowing air out of his nose he growled, "You made a mistake coming in my pack's territory, I will beat you to pieces!" Aaron struggled for his life, he hadn't much power left. The other Primeapes jumped out of the big tree, out of the grass, out of every possible direction and ran towards him. They looked like a big wave of muddy water, ready to rip Aaron apart for trespassing. "I give up, no chance I can do anything against an enraged crowd of Pokémon in my condition," he thought while preparing for his last moments.

"Charmeleon, use flame thrower!" a human voice said. A wall of flames with a fierce orange colour cut through the Primeapes. They instantly let go of Aaron, running towards the trainer who jumped out of the bushes. He was like 1.80 meters tall, had brown eyes and brown hair with some spikes. He was wearing a red jacket, and stylish blue jeans, with a courageous look in his eyes he faced the wild tsunami of insane Pokémon.

"Pikachu, use thunder to end this, quick!" The Pikachu jumped in the air and rained an enormous yellow thunderbolt on the enraged mob, the Primeapes finally backed off into the forest, leaving many unconscious mates behind. The trainer ran as fast as he could to the Lucario on the ground. Aaron saw the face of the trainer before darkness engulfed him. "Help... me... ," a low voice whispered into the trainers head, he looked around but only saw the Pokémon on the ground.

"I have to catch you, it's the only way to help you, Pokéball, Go!" The ball hit Aaron's head, he de-materialised in a red shadow and got instantly sucked into it. The ball landed on the burned grass, moving around on the spot with a red blinking button. The motion stopped instantly because Aaron was too weak to do anything, and the Pokéball finished the catching duty. The trainer picked it up and dashed as fast as he could through the vast forest, his Pikachu and Charmeleon right behind him.


Aaron opened his eyes, he felt a warm and soft bed, the room was well lit. The ceiling and walls were full of medical devices. He noticed who the trainer who caught him. "Are you awake?" he asked the Lucario. Aaron tried to answer, but all he could say was a growl like sound. "Hey, I'm Marvin, nice to meet you, I hope you will get better, you were really beaten up. I wonder what happened to you beside the Pokémon encounter, the nurse of this Centre was shocked to see you in that condition."

Aaron gave up trying to speak English, so he expressed himself in a friendly growl. Marvin watched in all directions again, the voice in his head was back for a second. His attention went back on the Lucario, "Was that... you? This voice in my head? I heard stories from my grandfather about this phenomenon. When you catch a Lucario, you can understand the language in form of Aura waves. Say something to me, what is your name?"

Aaron sits up the moment he heard the word "Aura", he remembered stories about it. Aura is an energy form that all human and Pokémon emit through their emotions. He concentrated and thought, "My name is Aaron, thanks for saving me." Marvin laughed, "Hello Aaron, nothing to thank I always help. I assume you are male, because the name is male!" The Lucario was astonished, even though he couldn't talk any more, he could use some kind of telepathy.

He laughed and wanted to stand up, but Marvin forced him down on the bed. "Wait, before you can go outside I'll get nurse Joy for a final check up, you were half dead when I found you." With these words Marvin ran out of the room, closing the door in a loud bang. Aaron sank in thoughts.

"Marvin... caught me, that means he owns me now. That's interesting. I wont tell him who I really are, he wont believe a single word of that story. It really looked like I was too weak to defend myself in the wilderness, maybe I should leave it that way. But when I get the chance I want to meet the researcher the Team Rocket boss told me about, Bill. And I have to find out about what happened to my Combusken. Those questions may answer itself when I'm going to travel with Marvin. I would go myself, but I owe him my life, so I'm going to play along with him. But when I see a chance of finding things out about my transformation or my former friend, I will leave everything behind to get back what was robbed from me."

With a loud "bang" the door opened itself, Marvin was back, nurse Joy right behind him. "Well, hello my dear Lucario," the nurse with the pink hair and white dress said, "I was up the whole night because of you, you were a real mess, let me check your pulse." Joy walked towards Aaron and held his paw, then pressed her thumb against the spike on it. Aaron felt how it started to pulse, he didn't know much about his new body, now he made the experience that his spikes are supplied with blood. He was impressed by the knowledge of the nurse.

"Your pulse has finally stabilised, it's at 85. You can leave the bed now, everything is fine. But before you do that, please eat something." Aaron noticed that his belly roared, but what should he eat. Joy walked out of the room and came back with a tablet full of Citrus berries. "Eat those, they'll fill you up and make you strong at the same time. "Aaron took a berry and bit into it, it tasted like a mix of sour and sweet, with a tiny trace of spiciness. He liked it and continued to chew them down in haste, he was very hungry indeed. He thanked the nurse with a smile on his face and a happy snarl, she returned the smile.

"And you Marvin, please take good care of him, Lucarios are a very rare sight in the south of Sinnoh." She left the room, Aaron looked after her till the pink hair vanished. "Let's go outside when you're finished eating, I want you to meet my two other partners who saved you as well, make sure to thank them. I hardly did anything." The Lucario stood up, and together with Marvin he left the room.

The sun shined through a half opened window, and some lone trees stood in a vast corn field that extended far over the horizon into tiny mountains. It was an even more beautiful sight, when Marvin and Aaron opened the glass doors, going outside. The light was warm and tickled their heads, birds sang their ballades over the enormous fields with waving yellow crop. No other person was around, they had all the space for themselves.

"Come out, Pikachu and Charmeleon, meet our new friend Aaron who will travel with us." Both appeared out of a red flash. "This red fella here was my first Pokémon, her name is Sheya. The Pikachu was my first catch, his name is Akol."

"Hello, my name is Aaron, thanks for saving me from that mob," Aaron started, unsure if they could understand him. In the ears of other persons it sounded like some sort of growling pattern, but Marvin understood what he said, due to the Aura, and laughed, "Don't be shy, say hello to him."

Sheya made the first step, a female voice was beginning to talk, the Lucario was surprised that he could understand her very clearly. "It's nice to meet you, you don't have to thank me, it was nothing. Please excuse Akol, he is a bit cautious when it comes to strangers, you might be with us now, but he still won't trust you for a while. I hope we will form a good team, don't forget to support Marvin with all your might. I want to let his dream, becoming the champion of the Sinnoh league, come true."

Aaron mustered Sheya, she was a bit smaller than an usual Charmeleon in her young age, but Aaron sensed a strong Aura surrounding her, in form of a blue shadow. She seems to like Marvin very much, they have a strong bond. He was still impressed about his ability to read the feelings of others. "Thanks for the warm welcome," Aaron said, then suppressed his Aura so that Marvin couldn't understand him say," I will take the challenge of becoming stronger for him, I swear it by my life, because he saved it. Without him I would not stand here today."

Sheya looked at his serious expression and laughed," Don't take it that serious, it has to be fun." She walked towards Marvin and smiled at him. "Sheya seems to have accepted you, Akol is very shy, he needs some time before he talks to you." The moment his name fell, the yellow Pikachu with many black stripes looked at Aaron, then disappeared very fast behind Sheya. Marvin continued,

"I still remember the time when I caught him, he was really small and was scared by everything, and now we are best friends. It took a while though, so be patient. Let's start training for today, I want to try out which you attacks you know, Aaron." It was like Marvin hit him with a hammer, "Attacks, I don't know any attacks, I never even thought of that, he doesn't know yet that I'm totally useless like I am now."

Marvin draws his Pokédex and scanned Aaron. "Lucario, the aura Pokémon, by catching the aura emanating from others, it can read their thoughts and movements". He looked up the basic attacks, wanting to start off with something easy. He suggested, "Let's try a tackle, use it on the tree in front of us." Aaron looked asking at him, he didn't know how a tackle is performed. He remembered how his Combusken did it, and gave it a try.

He looked at the tree, focusing the energy in his feet, then dashed towards it, ramming the bole with his shoulder. Crash! The tree hadn't a single scratch from the impact. Some leaves fell down and were blown away by the wind. Marvin saw a Lucario who fell on the ground and mentioned, "I think we have much work in front of us, I understand why you were beaten up so badly, you can't even perform a tackle...!"

Aaron was really embarrassed, "I'm very sorry Marvin, I never cared much about fighting." Marvin was in joy as he heard his voice again. "Don't worry, it's nothing we can't fix with a little practice. Sheya show him how to perform a tackle, please." The Charmeleon walked towards him, she had a kind smile on her face.

"You don't have to be ashamed of yourself, you are who you are. If you never fought a battle before, you can learn it really fast. When you perform a tackle you have to be sure that your main focus in the upper half of your body, not your legs, or you won't build up enough momentum while you run. Try to hit your target with all the force you have built up, a small jump will help, too." She started to run, Aaron could see that her upper body was bending forward to focus the strength in her shoulder area. With a small but perfect executed jump she rammed the tree. A small tremor shook the ground as she impacted. "Very good Sheya," Marvin praised her, "Now try again Aaron, do it like her."

"I will try it now," the Lucario said to Marvin. Full of anticipation, he started to dash towards the tree, that had cracks left from the former tackle. With all his might he smashed against it, utilizing a small jump. The tree cracked loud and gave in, with a loud "bang" it fell on the ground.

Aaron was impressed by his strength, he rubbed his shoulder, it was hurting a bit, but he was satisfied that he wasn't useless. "Awesome, you just made a huge step forward today," Marvin complimented him. "It was nothing, Sheya did most of the work," he replied, but Marvin walked towards him, petting the Lucarios head. It was a comfortable feeling to be praised like that. "Tomorrow we will start with some new attacks, now we have to move on to Oreburgh city, I want to get my next badge!" He showed Aaron a case with 2 badges, a forest and a cobble badge.

"Now that I have a fighting type Pokémon, stone types won't be a problem any more," Marvin said to Aaron and smiled, "I will train you very hard for that battle, I lost the first time, I don't want to lose twice." Marvin called Akol back, but left Sheya and Aaron outside, "He does it like more inside of his ball. Now let's go, we have to move towards the mountains you can see in the distance." Marvin took his backpack with all of his belongings out of the Centre, and said goodbye to the nurse. Aaron followed Sheya and Marvin out into the bright open fields.
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